Authors Note: Yay! This is turning out very well! I hope ya'll like it!


Kleay bristled. "NO!" came a terrified scream. Kleay looked over at Jackar. His eyes were wide and he was crouched close to the ground, ears laid flat and tail bushed out with fear. "Don't let them get to me!" he wailed. Kleay bristled with anger now. The Katka were dangerous to prophet-mages.

The rangers were looking at the sky with wide eyes. Halt whipped an arrow out of his quiver, knocking and pulling it back to full draw within the space of a heartbeat. Kleay lunged at him a second before he released. The arrow flew wide and completely missed the Katka he had been aiming at. The half-bird screamed with rage and flapped its wings as it flew out of bowshot.

Halt picked himself out of the dirt as Kleay yelled, "Don't try to shoot at them! They have metal bodies and wings! They'll come and get you!" She whipped out her own arrow. "Only a scorching shot can kill them!" Within a few seconds, Kleay's arrow was soaring through the air. The Katka Halt had just shot at was diving down towards the grim-faced ranger. "Hathian metra fira!" called Kleay. Her arrow burst into flames and buried itself in the Katka's chest.

The half-bird gave a scream of fear and rage as it plummeted to the ground. A blurred shape darted out of the trees surrounding the meadow and a Vetaer threw itself on the Katka, which was flapping it's wings uselessly. In a whirl of brown and white fur, the Vetaer clawed furiously at the Katka's face. In moments, the Katka was lying limply in the dust, a female cat-person standing over it with bloodied hands.

"Samuria!" called Kleay. "You take them down when they fall!" The brown-haired girl nodded and bared her teeth.

"We will slay them!" she agreed. Then she ducked out of the way as a Katka swooped down and lashed out with a hooked beak. The Katka were now diving at the rangers all over the gathering grounds, forcing them to dodge out of the way. Kleay knocked a second arrow to her bow and called out the spell again as she swiftly aimed and released. More Katka fell to the ground to be beset by Samuria, who clawed them viciously until they were dead.

"Is there any way we can help?" asked Will urgently.

"Yes. Take your knives and stab the Katka's faces. That's the only way to kill them. You cannot shoot their faces with arrows." replied Kleay calmly as she fired another scorching arrow.

She heard a scream and whirled to find a Katka attempting to lift a ranger into the air. She fired her arrow and the Katka screamed and fell back to the ground a meter below. Samuria flew past, running on all fours with a ranger dashing in her wake. The Vetaer and the ranger flung themselves on the Katka and lashed out at its face.

Then, suddenly, the Katka screamed to each other and spiraled raggedly away. Kleay, breathing hard from her massive usage of magic looked around to make sure they were gone.

Samuria ran up on all fours again and crouched in the dust, panting in a dog-like way. "They're all gone. We killed the last one." She gestured at the ranger who had been following her. Then she turned to Jackar, who was lying on the ground. "Is he all right?" she asked worriedly. "Did the Katka get him." Panic flared in her eyes.

Kleay shook her head wearily. "No. He's fine, I think." She looked down at Jackar. As if sensing that his people were worried for him, he opened his eyes and staggered upright.

"I am fine. The Katka's presence is harmful to me. I was recovering." He trembled and shook his head. "I am fading." he added softly.

Kleay and Samuria gasped. "No! You can't be fading already!" whispered Kleay, horrified.

"But it is happening nonetheless. I cannot stop the invetible."

Kleay's eyes filled with tears. "But you have to stay and help us restore our worlds!"

"I may be here long enough for that. But I will fade no matter what happens."

"What's all this about fading?" asked Gilan, coming up with Will trailing in his wake.

Kleay looked at him with such anguish that he flinch and looked away. "Prophet-mages do not die. They fade. It leaves them time to find an heir to their power. But it it painful to them."

"So Jackar will fade away?"

The prophet-mage nodded and spoke, "Yes. I may not be gone by the time we have found the magic and restored to its place. I know not how long I have, or where the magic is, or even what shape the magic will take."

"You're going to die?"

"Yes. And it may be very soon if the Katka remain here."


To pronounce Samuria's name, you say, Sam-ooh-rye-ah. And guess what? Somebody is going to die, not Jackar, since he is going to die anyway. But you have to vote on who is going to die. And it's a mystery vote!

Vote for,

a.

b.


R&R, Sil vous ple!